All is chaos and confusion…

We’re still waiting to hear about another appointment for Mags to see a specialist at Airedale General, after the last one was cancelled. A telephone consultation with her GP arranged for Friday morning never happened either, so we’re completely in the dark as to what the future holds.

Meanwhile she’s got to have another series of blood tests done, so we’re back in Skipton again where we’ve easy access to Skipton hospital for samples to be taken. And to cap it all CRT are closing the locks from below Gargrave to Wigan again –
“This action is necessary because of the limited water resources currently available but more importantly to reduce the risk of the reservoirs not refilling in time for the start of the main boating season next year.”
I don’t see that closing the locks to traffic is going to make much difference. There’s a 3 month stoppage at Burnley preventing any through passage in the New Year, and we’ve only seen a handful of moving boats in the last week.

If we have another dry Spring forget about boating in the North next year.

We had a good stay at Gargrave; Mags’ son Howard came over to see us Sunday, then Val and John stayed the night with us on Monday. Mags has been crowned the Undisputed Frustration Champion, after several games played until the early hours. Food and drink were also enjoyed…

We’d recovered enough by Thursday to drop down the locks out of Gargrave, to moor below Holme Bridge for the night. A fine day for a bit of lock-work.

Filling with water at Higherland Lock


Heading towards Ray Bridge


You don’t often see herons perching in trees, but this chap was enjoying the sunshine.

There were two boats tied on the upper lock landing at Holme Bridge Lock, making it awkward. Mags had to float about while I filled the lock…

We pulled in below the lock for the night. A fine sunset suggested that Friday should be a fine day, but the forecast said otherwise and for once was right. It was overcast and gloomy when we set off, looking at doing the four swing bridges that cross the canal to Skipton.

Coming up to Highgate Swing Bridge


Under the curiously attractive bridge carrying the A629 at Niffany.

We moored between Gawflat and Brewery Bridges, its not far to Aireville Park and Meg likes to have a slow amble on the grass there.

Howard had brought over the mail last Sunday, including a service kit for the Eberspacher heater that I’d taken off a week of two ago. So I set to yesterday afternoon and dismantled it.


I expected it to be coked up, but it was remarkably clean inside. But it was also damp, which is a clue to why it had stopped working. The seal between the combustion chamber and the water jacket had failed, allowing water in to where it shouldn’t be…
 
It’s the large O-ring you can see around the end of the combustion chamber.

There’s one included in the kit so it was replaced, as well as all other gaskets and seals disturbed during the strip-down. It took about 90 minutes in all to strip, clean, and rebuild the unit.

When we move out of town I’ll assemble a test rig and fire it up on the bank to try it out. From experience it’s likely to be a little smoky for a start… Then I’ll wrap it up and store it ready for when I need it.

We’ll be in town for a few days, apart from going to the hospital for Mags bloods I’ll pop Meg in to the vet to weigh her and check up with Sam the vet. She’s doing ok, dry through the day now but still a little incontinent at night. Probably as good as we’re going to get.

Locks 3, miles 5½